As a planning consultant and project manager (master planning for wineries and small luxury resorts), I work with architects all the time, some small relatively obscure firms or individuals and a number of world class architects. If there is one thing that is absolutely consistent among all of them, THEY DO NOT READ THE ZONING CODE before beginning design. Consequently, a client gets stuck with the necessary redesign fees because the architect did not understand the parameters, or (worse) the client has to pursue a variance (50-50% chance of approval, at best) and incur significant additional costs with the permitting process. Left to their own devices, the architect will often blame the local planning department or the building department. Not fair and not accurate. Here are some ways to insure a positive architect experience, from my experience.
(1) Ask the local planners and building dept. officials about local architects, what their experience has been. They may be circumspect about some firms, but will usually be highly complimentary of those they've had good communications and good experiences with. You may be surprised to learn that there are some architects (only a few, usually) who are legendary for designing buildings that cannot be built.
(2) Ask the architect questions about their experience interfacing with both the Planning and Building Departments. If they tell you they usually rely on another contractor (such as a planning consultant or an attorney) to secure local permits, ask more questions. These additional consultants really should not be necessary for a single-family residence.
(3) Submit a letter with the zoning code for your property attached, and ask the architect to sign that they have read the zoning provisions and will design your residence accordingly (or will inform you in advance if their preferred design will require variances or exceptions to code). Do not accept them simply telling you this, because it won't happen nine times out of ten. Secure a copy of the zoning yourself and attach it to the signature letter.
(4) Final fees paid upon acceptance of the plans by the Building Department are a good idea. I recommend 10% as a minimum. It's also a good idea to ask the architect to indicate in each invoice what percentage of your job has been completed at that point in the invoicing. This is basically a built-in and cost-free to you project management and fee management tool and can prove invaluable if you end up in a dispute with your architect's fees. Finally, one can always offer an architect a bonus fee for them to put you ahead in line. You may save the difference in waiting 6 to 12 mos., because most professional readjust their hourly fees on an annual basis. Beware the professional who tells you they can't even look at the project for at least 6 months, if they don't offer any further encouragement. This may mean they don't want to do this project at all. Better you should know that up front.
(5) For those of you hiring out-of-state architects, make certain that they have a Florida registration/stamp. Otherwise, you could end up searching for a Florida-registered architect who is expected to stamp someone else's drawings. Most reputable firms won't do this, due to liability issues.
These suggestions are not intended to be derisive to architects. Unfortunately, the creative process usually doesn't usually like to consider constraints at the outset, so reading the zoning first is not the most exciting start, however necessary. I have worked with world class architects who, it turned out, had absolutely no idea the definition of a setback. But if you encounter resistance to most of this stuff, it is usually a good sign you should keep looking. I have seen too many people unknowingly subjected to redesign fees or fees for other consultants to do damage control, which could have been easily avoided by consideration of the above points. It's a system that works for me and my team usually welcomes the clarification even if they wouldn't necessarily offer it without a specific request from a client or project manager. Good luck and remember...working with the world class architect usually means traveling in an entirely new dimension...not for the faint of heart.